Adventures in teaching.

I teach a self-contained special education class at a high school. Even though we are a high school we have grades 6-12. My students come to me in 6th grade and stay till they are 21. We become a family in our years together. I stay in touch with many of my former students. My students all have either Autism or moderate levels on intellectual disabilities. We certainly have some adventures. Many people have told me I should write a book about my years in the classroom. I am not disciplined enough to write a book, so I figured I would begin blogging and perhaps at some point I can put the blogs together to make a book.

Today I will just give some background info on me. I am 43 years old and have been teaching for 20 years. I would have 21, except that I took a year off to work on my doctorate in special education. I decided in 4th grade that I wanted to work with students with disabilities. I received my Bachelors of Ed. from Livingston University(now University of West Alabama). I also received my Masters of Ed. form there. I later received my Education Specialist from the University of Alabama. Several years later I received my Doctorate in Special Ed. from the University of Southern Mississippi.

I have taught at 5 different schools over the last 20 years. I started teaching at Linden Elementary School in Linden Alabama. There I taught a multi-handicapped class. I had students ranging from age 4 to 21. That was an experience. When I moved to Jefferson County, I began teaching at Hillview Elementary, where I taught a self-contained class with students from 3rd grade to 6th grade. I taught there 4 years. After my four years there I moved to Pittman Middle School in Hueytown, Alabama. Here I taught another self-contained class for students in 6th-8th grade. I was there for 4 years, then left for a year to go to the Unviersity of Southern Mississippi. When I returned to Jefferson County, I took a job at Linden Elementary School. Here I taught in a pull-out resource setting. I stayed in this job only one year. I loved the school, but my love is the lower functioning students that are served in a self-contained class. After that year, I transferred to Oak Grove High, where I have been ever since.

Last Tuesday, I was teaching my students a math lesson. We were all gathered around the table in group studying how to read graphs. One student with Down Syndrome, Missy, kept putting her head down and trying to sleep. It was a struggle to keep her awake during the lesson. After the lesson I gave the class a bathroom break. After several minutes, all my students were back in class, except Missy. I told my para I was going to go check on her. I went into the bathroom and only one stall was occupied. I called out her name and received no response. "Missy" I called out again. No response. I knocked on the door "Missy, are you okay". Still no response. I knocked harder, calling out again. Still nothing. I kick the door. Still no response. At this point I am worried. Is she okay? I go back to my classroom and ask my para to join me in the bathroom. She knocks and calls out. Still nothing. After a brief discussion, I stand on the toilet in the stall next to her and look over. There she sits, pants around her ankles, head on the tissue holder, sound asleep. Now, we know from experience that when Missy sleeps, she sleeps hard and is very difficult to wake up. Sandra, my para, goes back to our room and gets a broom, which we use to reach over and unlock the door. So, into the stall I go. Now, just picture, me trying to wake up a child sleeping on the toilet with her pants around her ankles. Gently shaking her, calling out her name....... yeah, 4 degrees and THIS was NEVER covered!!!!

Christmas and health scares

Recently my hematologist, whom I go to for hemolytic anemia, noticed some abnormalities in my blood. Enough that he ordered a bone marrow biopsy. I almost blew off the biopsy--the thought of it terrified me immensely. I also made the mistake of googling the procedure and that worked me up even more. Finally I scheduled the biopsy--the first day of my two week Christmas break. Now, I must admit, it wasn't as horrible as I had imagined. Of course the Demerol I insisted they give me relaxed me somewhat. When the "Biopsy guy? came in, I had to laugh and say something to him, as I recognized him from 2 years ago as a man I was sitting near at a local coffee shop who was rather intoxicated and loud and extremely funny. Once I said something, we realized we had several friends in common and that led to some small talk, which also helped to relax me.

Then came the waiting. Waiting. Waiting. and once again my imagination began to run away with me. I kept thinking, "It's bad news and they don't want to call me right before Christmas, so they are waiting." Sure enough, the first working day after Christmas, they call--answering the phone, I was holding my breath, waiting for the bombshell. Whew, it never came. The doc said" Well, the biopsy doesn't look horrible." He went on to say that there were no indications of Leukemia and that my red blood cells may be showing some early signs of displasia. Hmm....the white blood cells are what caused them to order the biopsy, so I found that strange. Although my red blood cells are white I've been seeing a hematologist since 2006. My doc is retiring on the 31st of this month, so I will see a new doc in January to go over the results of the test thoroughly and see if we are going to follow a treatment plan of any sort. At least the worrying is over for now.

Autumn

I spent this past weekend camping in Flat Rock, North Carolina. We had a lot of fun at the Flat Rock Music Festival. I'm home now and back at work. Last night I found myself feeling melancholy. The air changes when fall is here and it makes me feel a little sad. Not sure why, I love fall days, but nights and early morning seem to depress me. I sat on the patio yesterday afternoon with my dog Sparky and four of my 6 cats. We all just sat out there enjoying the crispness of the air and the slight breeze. The sun was shining and felt so good after all the rain we have been having. Yet, once darkness fell, the melancholiness set in. This morning was no better. It's no longer light outside when I get up, which is very depressing to me. It was 51 degrees and I just seem to have a hard time getting motivated in the dark. I need sunshine--lot's of sunshine. Perhaps I find fall sort of depressing because I know winter is right around the corner. Spring and summer are my months!!! Maybe it's time to start counting down till Spring. However, I don't want to wish my life away!!! I have another festival to go to this weekend. Haven't decided if I am going to camp or not. If it is raining, I am not camping. If it's nice, it should be good camping weather. Music will end at 11:00, so camping would be better than driving home, although it isn;t far from home--about an hour or so. I guess this will be the last festival of the season. There is one more the following weekend, butI don't think I can afford another one. wish I could. I do love camping at music festivals. We'll see. Still need to buy the part for the heater, so I need to budget my money accordingly. I will be going to homecoming at the University of West Alabama on the 30th of October. That should be fun. The alumni homecoming party is always fun. Probably won't do the football game. I suppose I need to quit rambling and get some work done.......................